Archive for the ‘Exclusive Excerpt’ Category

Nancy de Freitas is the glue that holds her family together. Caught between her ageing, ailing mother Frances, and her struggling daughter Louise, frequent user of Nancy’s babysitting services, it seems Nancy’s fate is to quietly go on shouldering the burden of responsibility for all four generations. Her divorce four years ago put paid to any thoughts of a partner to share her later years with. Now it looks like her family is all she has.

Then she meets Jim. Smoker, drinker, unsuccessful country singer and wearer of cowboy boots, he should be completely unsuited to the very together Nancy. And yet, there is a real spark.

But Nancy’s family don’t trust Jim one bit. They’re convinced he’ll break her heart, maybe run off with her money – he certainly distracts her from her family responsibilities.

Can she be brave enough to follow her heart? Or will she remain glued to her family’s side and walk away from one last chance for love?

Check out our exclusive excerpt below!

Prologue

Nancy was in the kitchen preparing supper, listening to The Archers on the radio, drizzling olive oil over some summer vegetables for roasting, when her husband, Christopher, walked in and told her he was leaving. The July evening was breezy and cool, but the doors to the garden were open, the tortoiseshell cat from next door prowling around the tubs on the flagstone patio, rubbing his body luxuriously along the smooth earthenware sides of a pot of lavender.

Christopher stood across the room, the island worktop between them. He was dressed in jeans and his navy sweater, the high zip-neck brushing his chin, although the zip was partially undone. Thin, small and tidy, tanned from his endless walks in the Suffolk wetlands, his gray hair short, almost monk-like, he seemed determined, almost fierce, as he clutched his brown leather holdall in his left hand.

“Where are you going?” Nancy asked, holding up her oily hands, like a surgeon ready to operate, as she paused in her task of tossing the onions, zucchinis, peppers and baby tomatoes. “It’s nearly supper time.” She reached across to turn the radio off, using her elbow to press the green knob: Christopher hated The Archers.

Duel McClain has lost everything he’s ever loved: his wife, his son, his sense of self. But when a strange twist of fate—and a poker game he’ll never forget—leaves an innocent little girl in his care, Duel vows to defend his new family to his very last breath. If only he knew a single thing about taking care of babies…

Just as Duel swears his life can’t get any more complicated, a beautiful woman stumbles into the light of his campfire, desperate for help. Jessie Foltry is hungry, tired, and running for her life. She agrees to help Duel care for the child in exchange for his protection, even as she fights to guard her broken heart. But Duel will do whatever it takes to make Jessie see that the Texas plains have more than one kind of knight, and perhaps their salvation is closer than either of them could have dreamed…

Panic set in when Duel returned to camp less than an hour later to find the bedroll empty. Blood pounded in his temples as he scanned the area for Jessie and Marley Rose. Then he heard the faint sound of a child’s happy gurgle.

The creek.

He suddenly developed four left feet in his haste to find the missing pair. A mesquite branch grabbed his shirt, tearing a long gash. It didn’t matter. Nothing did except finding his baby girl and making sure nothing happened to her. Only one thing stopped him dead in his tracks-—the metallic click of a cocked hammer and a cold warning.

Rodeo producer Cole Jacobs has his hands full running Jacobs Livestock. He can’t afford to lose a single cowboy, so when Cousin Violet offers to send along a more-than-capable replacement, he’s got no choice but to accept. He expects a grizzled Texas good ol’ boy.

He gets Shawnee Pickett.

Wild and outspoken, ruthlessly self-reliant, Shawnee’s not looking for anything but a good time. It doesn’t matter how quickly the tall, dark and intense cowboy gets under her skin—Cole deserves something real, and Shawnee can’t promise him forever. Life’s got a way of kicking her in the teeth, and she’s got her bags packed before tragedy can knock her down. Too bad Cole’s not the type to give up when the going gets tough…

EXCERPT:

The parking Nazis attacked before Shawnee turned off her pickup. Red-faced and dripping sweat under their neon-yellow plastic vests, they waved their orange-painted sticks so frantically you’d think she’d landed a 747 in the contestant lot.

She rolled down her window. “Is there a problem?”

“You can’t park here,” the taller one declared, jamming his thumbs in his pockets and thrusting his beer gut at her.

Shawnee ran a deliberate glance around the clipped grass field, dotted with live oaks like the one she’d parked beneath. Four hours before the first rodeo performance, only seven other rigs had arrived, all lined up with military precision along the back fence. “Looks like there’s plenty of room.”

“There is now.” Beer Gut attempted to radiate pompous authority in a dime-store cowboy hat. “But it’ll get crowded once the rest of the contestants arrive. We have to keep it organized so no one gets blocked in.”

He walked away from me once. I won’t give him the chance to do it again.

Ella

I’m finally getting my life back on track…and then he shows up.Noah Endicott.The only man I’ve ever loved. The man who broke my heart.He says he’s back for me, but I don’t believe him. I can’t.Noah is all about business. He’s here to make a deal with my boss, and I’m just convenient. Again.This time, I’m going to protect my body, even if I can’t protect my heart.

Noah

Ella doesn’t trust me. I get it. I do.The first time around, I f*cked it all up.I lost her, and I’ve missed her every day since.Now I’m back, and I’m not walking away.Ella thinks I’m only in town on business. She’s wrong.I’m here for her, and I’m not leaving until she’s mine.

Check out the exclusive excerpt below!

I was late. I’m never late.

Twenty minutes to get to campus. I had a two o’clock appointment with my thesis advisor. Oliver was trying to see if he could get me put back on our project even though I wasn’t currently enrolled in the Master’s program.

It was a long shot, and I didn’t want to blow it bybeing late.

I hated to interrupt a meeting, but I’d told my bosses I needed a few hours off this afternoon, and I had to hand over my charge before I left. Cradling baby Rosie against my shoulder, I nudged the door to the office open with my hip, saying, “I’m so sorry to interrupt, but it’s one forty and—”

A horse race in trousers on Rotten Row. Visiting a gaming hall in a dress that would make her mother faint. Sneaking an invitation to a masquerade ball attended by only the wickedest, most debauched members of society…None of these things are scaring off bookish but strong-willed Amelia Bishop’s stuffy, egotistical fiancé.The only thing left is to entice childhood friend Nicholas Wakefield into a truly engagement-ending scandal. The Wakefields are the height of propriety, and Nicholas’s parents have made it clear a wife from the neighboring Bishop family would be unacceptable…But Nicholas would give up his family and his fortune if Amelia would ever see him as more than just a childhood friend. He’ll go along with her scheme, even if it means ruining them both, because he’s got a plan that will change her mind about him being merely the boy next door.

Check out the exclusive excerpt below!

It was late afternoon when Nicholas left the study and he was exhausted. There was only one person who would understand all of the feelings he couldn’t quite find words for. He promised himself he was only going to talk to his friend. He wouldn’t do something foolish, like try to kiss her again. Not that Amelia would notice. She had a remarkable knack for attributing his romantic gestures to playful teasing.

He crossed his property onto the Bishop estate and let himself in. Today, it was a good thing the Bishop household treated him like a member of the family. The staff were rushing around in a frenzy cleaning and moving things in preparation for the engagement party. If he’d waited for someone to notice and announce him, he might have waited all day.

He found Julia first, in the upstairs library, leaning precariously over the back of an armchair with her head angled to an open window.

“The house is in a flurry. Do you know—”

“Shh!” She nearly tipped herself and the chair over in the process of shushing him. “They’ll hear you.”

Emma Cooper is determined to fulfill her mother’s dying wish to scatter her ashes with Aiden Sheffield in Linx, Texas. Just one problem. Why Texas and who the hell is Aiden Sheffield? The only clue is a faded piece of her mother’s stationary. Emma imagines Aiden is a former love of her mother’s, but when she meets the beautiful, damaged stranger, she realizes her assumptions couldn’t be more wrong. He’s hot and young. And Emma is as confused as ever.

Aiden Sheffield would rather go to hell than Linx. Who does Emma think she is disrupting his carefully built life? The last thing the Marine needs is to slice open the sealed wounds of his painful past. Yet, as he gets to know the lovely Emma, a woman who manages to smile even though she’s lost everything, he changes his mind. He will not let her go to hell alone.

But neither is prepared for the devastating evil waiting for them at the end of the road. It might just destroy them.

Check out the excerpt below!

In some ways, I’m grateful the memory came to me as I lie on the floor. It’s easier to distance myself from Emma when I think back to my childhood. It reminds me we come from two different worlds—not that either of us is normal. She is the girl who lost everything. I am the boy who never had anything. I wake up in the middle of the night, the memory fading away…dying and distant. Emma is lying next to me. She must have draped a sheet over me while I slept. I shake her awake, demanding an answer. “Why are you on the floor?” “You were having a nightmare. I didn’t wake you up this time, but I didn’t want you to be alone, either.” “It’s over.” “I know.” “Get off the floor.” “I want to sleep here.” “Why?” “Because this is where you are.” “Go to bed.” “Maybe I will if you stop waking me up.” “Go. To. The. Bed.” “No.” Her back is to me. She shivers. “You could at least share the sheet, though.” I sigh, throwing the cover over her, trying to summon annoyance I do not feel. God help me, I put my arms around her. She smells of vanilla and rum and sour apple Jolly Ranchers. I bury my face in the silk of her hair. This isn’t real, I tell myself. I am still dreaming. I can do what I want in a dream.

Annie has never experienced the “spark” with a guy – the kind of instant chemistry that steals your breath and blindsides you completely. Until a night out with friends brings her face to face with the wickedly sexy and mysterious Jack.

It’s not just a spark that ignites between them. It’s an explosion.

Jack promises to consume Annie. And he fully delivers on that promise.

Overwhelmed by the intensity of their one night together, Annie slips out of their hotel room. She is certain that a man who’s had such a powerful impact on her and who could bend her to his will so easily, must be dangerous.

But she’s already in too deep.
And Jack isn’t only dangerous.

He is THE FORBIDDEN.

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Keeping his eyes on mine, he calls to the barman. “Two tequilas, please.”

“Tequila,” I muse, looking over my shoulder when the salt and lemon land behind me. “Is that my challenge?”

“Crying off?” he goads, reaching into his pocket and pulling out some notes.

The daughter of an infamous art forger, Chloe Somerton grew up poor. Desperate to aid her sisters, she’d picked a pocket…or two. Now circumstances have changed, and Chloe has a chance to marry a young, wealthy lord. Only his mentor—a dark, dangerous duke—stands in her way. The duke knows about her past, and she’ll do anything to keep him from telling.

The moment Michael Keswick, the Duke of Cameron, sees Chloe Somerton, he recognizes her as a fraud. The stunning beauty with sapphire eyes and golden hair now appears to be a proper lady, but he knows better. What begins as a battle of wills soon escalates into a fierce attraction. In Chloe, Michael finds peace from the memories of war, but he refuses to marry…and she won’t settle for anything less.

Check out our EXCLUSIVE excerpt below!

The Duke of Cameron’s piercing gaze raked Chloe’s form before returning to her face. “Well…well,” he drawled. “Miss Somerton. What a pleasant surprise.” His tone suggested it wasn’t a surprise at all and that he’d been expecting her to arrive late at night on his doorstep.

Impossible.

Chloe’s heart pounded in her chest as she was held captive by his dark gaze. “May we speak in private, Your Grace?”

“You are alone? No chaperone?”

She swallowed. “I thought it best this way.”

His lips quirked. “Yes. I believe we have something important to discuss that requires the utmost privacy.” He motioned toward the hallway leading from the vestibule. “We can talk in my library. Shall we?”

For a brief moment, her nerves almost faltered, and she clutched her reticule before her.

One dark brow shot upward. “Come now, Miss Somerton. You haven’t sneaked out of your home unchaperoned to visit a bachelor’s residence only to lose your nerve now, have you?”

Amanda Porterfield longs to experience real adventure. So when she’s offered a position in bustling Tucson, she leaps at the chance despite unknown dangers—dangers like the mysterious Seth Grover.

As an undercover detective working to stop a gang of outlaws, Seth can’t afford the distractions a woman like Amanda inspires. Yet when the fiercely intelligent beauty is thrust into the middle of a heist gone wrong, Seth will fight for a future that may never be theirs…even if it means risking everything he holds dear.

Check out our exclusive excerpt below!

Seth Grover was growing weary of his double life. On the surface he presented himself as a man to be watched—a quiet, soft-spoken stranger who was good with a gun and who had no visible means of support other than being very good at playing poker. That combination made most folks believe he was probably operating on the shady side of the law, which suited his purposes most of the time. The truth was that he was an undercover agent for the Wells Fargo Company, hired to go wherever he was needed to foil outlaws targeting the company’s wealth. Most recently he’d been charged with doing whatever it took to stop the string of robberies that had cost the company close to half a million dollars over the last few years.

Thanks for inviting me to EverAfter Romance today! I’m excited to share one of my favorite scenes from my new historical romance, Scandalous Ever After. Evan and Kate’s romance is a friends-to-lovers story…sort of. He’s loved her since the first time they met—when she was his best friend’s newlywed bride.

With the mysterious death of Kate’s husband two years before, Evan and Kate were estranged. But circumstance and a long, wild road trip bring them back together, and they soon become lovers. It’s going to be tough for “just for now” to turn into “HEA,” considering the financial difficulties and secrets that threaten to drive them apart.

Evan is determined to seize every chance at love with Kate, though. He decides to be perfectly honest with her about a condition he has, which we’d today call clinical depression. In this scene, he describes it to her, and by the end, their relationship has become more honest and trusting. I hope you enjoy it.

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When the path broke into a small clearing, Evan tipped back his head. Through the dapple of gold leaves and the first bare branches, the sky was like cobalt glaze, translucent and blue, wisped with clouds like thrown cotton.